Picturing Our Future
We're about three weeks away from the start of COP26, the United Nations' global climate summit scheduled in Glasgow, Scotland. Thanks to Climate Central, United Methodists and other faith-based activists have a new set of visualizations to show the world's leaders what coastal cities will look like in 2030 if we don't make radical changes to worldwide pollution levels.
"Picturing Our Future" offers both a summary video (above) and a series of images depicting how sea level rise will alter coastal cities according to current scientific predictions. The new website offers visuals of some 180 coastal sites around the world, with many of historic cultural and civic importance.
These photos can be key to helping United Methodists and others better understand what's at stake in the deliberations coming at COP26. They'll also benefit faith-based studies about how human activity is desecrating God's creation, what United Methodist layman and climate activist Bill McKibben terms "running Genesis in reverse. Take a look and make use of them. Our future depends on helping citizens and political leaders understand how close we are to humanity's extinction, what U.N. general secretary Antonio Guiterrez has called "code red" for Planet Earth.
Don't miss Discipleship Ministries' Oct. 14 webinar, "How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey toward Racial Justice," featuring the Rev. Dr. Tex Sample, Dr. Jemar Tisby and the Rev. Dr. Stephen Handy. Dr. Tisby is the author of The Color of Compromise and How to Fight Racism and a historian of race and religion whose ARC method (awareness, relationships, commitment) for racial reconciliation has become a popular and effective tool. Click here to register.
Media Mentions as of Oct. 11, 2021
'Emotional for everyone': OK Methodist leaders reflect on boarding school vigil - The Oklahoman
Local Methodist Church discusses potential split | Richmond County Daily Journal
Abortion rights march takes to Redondo streets - Easy Reader News
Celebrate Facebook's outage? Many faith communities couldn't talk at all. - Religion News Service
Faith, endurance of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer revealed in new biography – Religion News Service
Is social distancing unraveling the bonds that keep society together? - Religion News Service
After tornado, COVID, recovery for East End UMC goes beyond replacing its century-old building – The Tennessean
Americans are in a mental health crisis – especially African Americans. Can churches help – Religion News Service
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.